There is a recognised difficulty in storing gas, in particular hydrogen, as an alternative energy source. We describe techniques which address this problem. Related work has identified that metal nanoparticles form in hither to unrecognised ways, which in turn has led to the recognition that there are new ways of catalysing a reaction and that new techniques can be used to provide a metal nanoparticle catalyst. Furthermore these approaches are general and not restricted, for example, to the production of hydrogen.
General background prior art can be found in “Palladium Nanoparticles on Thermoresponsive Hydrogels and their Application as Recyclable Suzuki-Miyaura Coupling Reaction Catalysts in Water”, Myeng Chan Hong et al., in Adv. Synth. Catal. 2012, 354, 1257-1263.